A Bad Day At The Office

Man.  So far, today has sucked.

Katie was having a great time at preschool this morning.  She was playing and laughing.  She was having actual give-and-take conversations with a 3 year old.  Good stuff.  Then she went into a room where some boys were playing with plastic dinosaurs.  

She didn't like the dinosaurs.  Then, one of the little plastic dinosaurs fell over and touched her leg.  She started to cry.  And then, the boys decided to capitalize on the reaction (as 2 year olds love to do) and made growling noises further exasperating the problem.

She ran to me crying.  It didn't stop there.  She broke down with four separate fits at circle time.  Once because of a song she didn't like (someone cries in it), then she didn't get to sit on a pink colored mat, then she didn't get to sit on a pink colored mat again, and then the last time because she missed the circle time story because she was out in the hall crying about pink mats.

Outside time at preschool was spent alternating between extreme happiness and crying.

Sigh.

There are times when I just have no idea what to do about these things.  None of it is logical to me.  It's really hard to take her feelings seriously when she is crying over a plastic dinosaur.  

That sounds horrible.  It sounds like I don't care.  But, I do.  Very much so.  I want her to be strong and independent.  It's just that I have no idea how to help her conquer these fears or these 'pink mat issues' without making them worse.

I know that if I went in and got a plastic dinosaur to show her that it was just a toy, she would cry even more.  I know that if I grabbed that pink mat for her before any of the other kids got it it would enable her.

So, the only thing I can do is talk to her about it.  It's just so....lame and it feels so pointless sometimes.

For example, I say,  "Katie, the dinosaurs are not real.  They are just toys.  If someone puts a dinosaur in your face and growls, you can say, 'That's not real.'" 

Katie answers, "But, I don't wanna say 'dat!"

Then I come back with, "Okay.  If you don't wanna say that then you can say, 'I don't like that. Please don't growl at me.'"

Here's hoping all the talking sinks in.  I don't think it does.  She seems too focused on crying to pay attention to anything that I am saying.

For the rest of today, I just gotta focus on being patient and relaxed.  It's hard (especially for me) but, I'll manage.

Sorry there haven't been any updates.  It's been a busy week or so.  I'll get back at it soon, I promise.

Today, we're flashing back to St. Paddy's Day.

Here's Katie showing off "my shamrock dress and my 'Percy' pants".

Then she opened a St. Paddy's Day card and guess what fell out?!?

STICKERS!!!!!

We've seen Block Hands here before.  (See Feb. 12th entry).

But, how about this????

BLOCK FEET!

A Glance at my Free Time

This is what I do instead of Facebooking.

You guys post messages on each others "Walls" and become "Friends".  I send "whispers" out to "friendlies" so we can "group" and kick some bad guy butt.

You guys send each other sheep or something and play all sorts of games.  My character can do the chicken dance.

You guys save up virtual money to buy virtual furniture for your avatars virtual apartment.  I auction off self-made gear to get gold so that I can buy myself a giant mountain goat to ride on.

There is one difference though.

My avatar can kick your avatars ass.

I dual wield, BAYBEE!

Katie: "I cried at preschool today."

Me:  "You did?  How come?"

Katie:  "I was sad."

Me:  "What made you sad?"

Katie:  "I didn't like the ducky song."

Me:  "What didn't you like about the ducky song?"

Katie, with trembling lip: "There was one ducky left."

Me:  "Were there other duckies?  Where did they go?"

Katie:  "They flew away.  They went bye-bye.  They left the ducky all alone."

Me:  "I'm sure they came back later.  Or maybe that ducky wanted to be left alone."

Katie:  "No, he didn't.  His family went bye-bye and left him alone."

Me:  "It made you sad to see the ducky all alone?"

Katie:  " Yeah.  There was one ducky left on Teacher Kelly's finger.  The other duckies went bye-bye.  He was all alone."

Me:  "Do you want a hug?"

Katie:  "Yeah. "

A Northwest Phenomenon

This should be new to you East Coasters.

Popcorn Snow.

It's not hail.  It's not ice.  It's teeny tiny balls of snow.

Like, leprechauns decided to have a snow ball fight with some mice.

Just plain weird.

But, according to my resident expert, they still taste like water.

Katie Quotes of the Week

Said while staring at her horde of Thomas trains.

"Mommy.  These trains are freakin' me out!"

Mortification

So, Katie and I are at the doctors today.

The appointment is over and the nurse offers Katie a sticker.  It has a horse on it.

She tells the nurse, "I don't want 'dat sticker!" and she throws it in the trash.  "I want a toy!"

Holy crap.  In shock, I stand there like an idiot.

The nurse calmly replies that she doesn't have any toys.  Katie requests another sticker.

It's another horse.

"I don't WANT 'DAT STICKER!"

I snap to.  "Katie.  There are no toys.  Just stickers.  Please, let me have it.  That wasn't nice."

I take the horse sticker away in the off chance that she'll just forget about it.  I begin to stick it in my pocket.

"NO!  I don't WANT to take it home!"

She grabs the sticker out of my pocket and throws it in the trash.

"That's it!  We are leaving now."  I say.  Trying to remain as calm as I can in the face of such blatant craziness.

The nurse tells me she's sorry as Katie throws herself on the floor and beginning to cry.  "Oh, no.  I'M sorry," I mumble.

I scoop her up as gently as I can, pretty hard to do when she is kicking and screaming, and leave the office.

We have a little sit-down in the hallway which of course is crowded with about a million parents with well behaved toddlers.  Katie is still screaming at me, "NO! NO! NO!"

I plop her into the nearest chair.

"That was not nice.  All the nurse had were stickers.  If you didn't want the sticker you should have said, 'No, thank you.' and handed it back.  So, we're going to leave now and go home."

"I don't wanna go home."  Sniffle.  Sniffle.

The worst is over.  The screaming has subsided.

"We're going home."

Then Katie looks up at me and says, "I already HAVE a sticker."

There's a small Snow White sticker on her jacket.

I sigh.

We leave.   

The Back & Forth

Do you wanna know what's totally awesome?

Me.

Duh.  You shoulda known that.

No really.

Do you wanna know what's totally awesome?

Hearing Katie conversing with another one of her 2 year old buddies.

Today, we had a preschool buddy come back to our house after school.  She and Katie had a great time running around and being absolutely nuts.

They had each other in hysterics a quite a few times.

But the best part was listening to them working out how to play with certain toys and trying to share.

"Here.  You take 'dat one and I will have 'dis one."

"You put the coin in here like 'dis.  'Den you push the button.  'Den all the coins come out.  See"

"Here.  Eat this."

"No.  It doesn't go like 'dat.  It goes like 'dis!"

There were no fights.  No screams.  No tears.  They played.  They played together.  They played...nicely.

Ahhhhhhh.  It was great.